In a retail environment there are some products that have a limited shelf life. If the product is a food item it is often categorized as perishable, whereas if the product is a non-food item it may simply be described as having a known shelf life. Displays of such products are often managed to ensure that product items on display are suitable for sale in terms of quality, safety, freshness and desired effectiveness. Managing such displays involves replenishing diminished stock, removing expired (and/or past-date) items and rotating newer and older items so that older items are displayed more prominently. However, the task of managing such displays is time consuming and prone to error. When oversights and errors do occur, expired items are left available to consumers who then may inadvertently purchase an expired item. Consistently displaying expired items for sale may hurt the image of a retailer in the eyes of consumers, as consumers may subsequently begin to associate the retailer with poor quality and low standards. Many retailers understand that effectively re-stocking, re-organizing and removing items on display may reduce the instances of dissatisfaction amongst shoppers/patrons. Moreover, there is also the aspect of food safety that retailers must manage. If retailers consistently leave expired items out on display, the chances that consumers are exposed to food-borne illnesses may increase.
In particular, in a food retailing business (e.g. a grocery store, deli, butcher shop, fish monger, convenience store, etc.), a public image of offering fresh products can be very beneficial. Many food products are perishable and are often marked with an expiry date or the like (e.g. a “best before” date or a “sell by” date). Portions of products on display are not always sold in good time, so some retailers have staff regularly rotate, replenish and remove displayed perishable products in an attempt to provide a basic level of quality control over the perishable products offered for sale. Moreover, arranging displays by a date-based sequence is sometimes useful in achieving good product movement/rotation for a retailer.
Often of particular interest to food retailers, are perishable products that are categorized and offered as Random Weight Items (RWI). Random weight items are products that are offered in various and irregular portion sizes. For example, in a grocery store, there are often pre-cut variable-sized portions of various cheese, deli and meat selections. Irrespective of the size and price of individual portions of a random weight item, food retailers try to ensure that the portions on display are reasonably fresh and are provided to consumers in accordance with food safety guidelines. However, this task can sometimes be difficult because particular portions of such items are often packaged on different dates, have different expiry dates and are of different weights, but are nevertheless displayed together in one display case. Consequently, it is time consuming and laborious to identify and remove portions of perishable products that are past an effective date.
For example, it is common for a type of cheese to be provided in different-sized portions. As consumers forage through a display case for a suitable portion size the displayed portions of cheese are moved around and shuffled. As the stock of displayed portions of cheese diminishes over the course of a day or week, additional portions of cheese are cut, packaged and added to the display case. Attempts are often made to re-arrange older portions and remove expired portions of cheese as the newer portions of cheese are added to the display. However, it is difficult to ensure that none of the portions of cheese on display are expired or are close to expiring. Moreover, inventory control of random weight items is sometimes further complicated by the fact that different random weight items may also have different respective shelf lives and are also displayed together. For example, a fresh cut portion of cheddar cheese may expire in one week, whereas a portion of mozzarella cheese may expire in two or three days. The level of complication can be exacerbated in retail outlets that offer a large selection of different random weight items.